Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the options open to children-parents who are diagnosed with certain conditions that would entitle them to resource hours after the recent National Council for Special Education deadline has passed; the number of such cases that have been submitted by local Special Education Support Services and are awaiting sanction after the recent deadline; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43696/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to advise the Deputy that all schools were asked to apply to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) for resource teaching support for the 2014/15 school year by 26 March 2014.

The NCSE published details of all of their allocations for resource teaching support for the 2014/15 school year in June 2014.

In order to meet any late demand for resource teaching support arising between the time that the initial allocation was made and the start of the school year, the NCSE requested all schools to submit outstanding applications to the NCSE by 22nd September, 2014.

The NCSE published details of a second round of additional resource teaching allocations which have been made to schools on 13th October 2014. These details are available on the NCSE website, www.ncse.ie.

Following this second round of resource teaching allocations, the allocation process for the 2014/15 school year has effectively concluded, other than in relation to a small number of emergency cases, or where schools do not have any resource teaching allocation. In other instances schools, should provide support for pupils with newly diagnosed conditions from within their overall resource teaching and learning support allocations, pending notification to schools regarding the 2015/16 allocation process.

As the second part of the Deputy's question, regarding the number of applications submitted to the NCSE subsequent to the September deadline, is an operational matter for the NCSE, I have arranged to have this part of the Deputy's question referred to the NCSE for consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.